Character Profile - Blog Posts

Drawing profiles with Quirrel <3

Personal Traits -

Age: 27 / Height: 5’11″ / Weight: 136lbs

Hair Color: Ebony Black / Hairstyle: Long, straight and layered

Eye Color: Green

Charming vs Intimidating

Impulsive vs Cautious

Sarcastic vs Genuine

Friendly vs Stoic

Easygoing vs Stubborn

Heart vs Mind

Optimist vs Pessimist

Team Player vs Independent

Personal Relationships -

Rebecca: very close relationship, even with the absences.

Bobby: Acquaintance. Don’t really like dealing with him though.

Professional Skills -

People: Tries to find the middle ground. (47%)

Combat: She can hold her own. (43%)

Science/Technology: Knows her stuff and can fix a coffee machine. (64%)

Deduction/Knowledge: Working hard on finding things that aren’t glaringly obvious.(15%)

By the Book vs Bend the Rules

Professional Relationships -

Mayor Friedman: 2

Captain Sung: 4

Team Stats -

Love Interest: Adam Du Mortain is the bane of her existence.

Best Friend(s): She passes notes to both Nate and Felix.

Did M Hold Back the Branch?: She’s sure he did so grudgingly.

What Makes Her Tick-

Tends to bottle her emotions up.

Was a troublemaker when she was younger to get attention.

Eventually stopped skipping school when Rebecca sat her down and had a “talk.”

Matured significantly when she left the people she used to hang out with in High School.

Was tickled pink when she met Tina, and considers her a true friend.

She hates being manipulated, but gives her trust easily.

Can pull an all nighter even if it makes her hate life.

She drinks her coffee black, unless it’s been a hell of a day.

She talks to her electronics.

Sings in both the shower, car, and office when she’s alone. She’s almost tone death.

Goes for runs in the forest because sometimes she feels like she’s stuck in a personal prison.

Works harder to prove to herself she earned something rather than it be handed to her.

Will melt in the heat.

Her car was the first thing she brought with her own money.

Wishes she could get a cat if her apartment would allow it.

On her days off she binges shows on Netflix, usually she’ll fall asleep and wake up on the “Are you still watching ‘Stranger Things’” sign.

She can cook, but can’t bake to save her life, to the last backsale she bought jello.

Thinks she’s recently gone to the hospital an awful lot for a detective, which irks her.

Her favorite snacks are apple chips.

Assumes that people deserve respect no matter how badly they treat her.

@thefictition Your mood board inspired me to do one, thanks for bringing Nicole Ocroti to life!

"I've been gifted all this power Raya- it'd be foolish not to use it."

▪︎▪︎▪︎

There is a new book idea brewing in my head and I am terrified (even though I have nothing to lose, quite literally). Although I am very excited for all the research I have to do.

But here's the sneak peek for Elora *no last name yet!* a very soft and delicate girl. However do not underestimate her- she is a gifted, powerful mage. Living in poverty, amongst rebels has taught her a trick or two.

How I Outline My Characters

Intro

Hey guys! Today I’m going to be talking about how I outline and build my characters. I used to be so uninspired when I was building characters, because to me it just felt like I was filling in blanks, and I couldn’t really connect to the character. So I just decided to take a bare-bones character profile (specifically Reedsy’s, which I highly recommend) and cut and add things as I saw fit. I want to stress that it’s in no way comprehensive--in fact, I’m always adding new things--but it does cover quite a bit, and so far, it’s worked well for me!

1. Identity and appearance

This section involves all the fundamental parts of a character. First, I begin with names: the character’s name in English (or in another language, if applicable) and their nickname(s). Then, I go through all the details of birth, location, age, etc. etc. Next, I dive into nationality and heritage, the languages the character understands, and their gender and pronouns (I know there's a difference between the two, I just group them together because it's easier to keep track of). Finally, I go into all the statistics of appearance and health, along with a description of what they look like in the text!

2. Personality and psychology

In the second section of my character profile, I nail down the basic personality and psychology of the character. "General” includes their normal temperament, preferences, moral compass, and more. The second subsection delves into “plot-significant” elements of the character’s mind, such as the heart’s desire, weaknesses, insecurities, and fears. “Classifications,” the third subsection, is just about categorizations like zodiac signs and personality types. Last is a list of miscellaneous “favorites” of the character. I pay a lot of attention to the first two parts of this section, as they are essential for me to figure out the story!

3. Communication and mannerisms

Next, I delve into the communications and mannerisms of the character, whether that’s vocal, physical, or emotional. Most of this is pretty self-explanatory, so I’ll just elaborate on a few. A swear word can tell you a lot about a character, surprisingly enough--whether it’s religious or not, whether the character whispers it or yells it, etc.

Under the “physical” subsection, “gestures” refers to the level of gesturing that a character does, as well as what kind of gestures they make--e.g. big and sweeping gestures, or small and confined ones? In the “emotions” subsection, "humor” refers to what the character finds funny, e.g. dark humor. “Smile” refers to what the character’s smile looks like, which can be very telling. For example, do they have a close-lipped smile or a wide, toothy grin? Do they have both but show one of them more often, and if so, why?

4. Social media and related

Here, I decide what social media platforms the character would use if they had them, and if so, what type of content they would post. This is a fun character exercise and it can be taken further by actually creating social media profiles for your characters on certain websites!

I also make a miniature playlist of what songs I think they would listen to, specifically songs that would be on their all-time most played Spotify playlist. Making playlists is one of my favorite ways to flesh out characters!

5. Backstory

Probably the most important part of the profile plot-wise, “Backstory” covers the entire background of a character--their childhood, memories, aspirations, abstract details, and everything to do with the past and what their life and mind was like prior to the story. Under “Description,” I simply write out a longer summary of the character’s backstory.

6. Family

Here, I just build the character’s family, noting their names, ages, birth/death, history, their relationship with the character, etc. This is pretty self-explanatory. After going into immediate family, I mention extended family. Both can reveal insights into the character--are they closer to one side of their family than to the other? Why? Is there any conflict that may be shown between the character and their family in the story?

7. Relationships

This section is all about relationships; familial, platonic or romantic. This helps me figure out the dynamics between characters. I also include a “Perception” section, which allows me to view the character from multiple angles. If this character is involved in romance, I note what qualities they want in a relationship or in their ideal partner(s).

8. Story elements

Finally, I figure out the current situation of the character: where are they right now and where do they want to be? What’s their goal? What motivates them? These questions let me build a plot. Lastly, I plan out their character arc--how they change and develop during the course of the story.